The Sun. — London, England, 1826-02-24 00:00:00

;beyond which, in du:y to thenueletee, they could not proceed b was true that the Charter of the Bank gave them a power to advance money upon the goods of merchants; but he consl elered it to be a permissive rather than an authoritative power. —lt was evident from the wording of the patty that it was not intended that this should be the practice of the Bank, and it would be highly injurious in every respect that such a practice should obtain. But it did surprise him that when they had a measure at hand which had been so successfully tried before, l they ehouhl refuse to adopt it, although it was evident that it mutt not only be a preferable means of affording relict, but also of restoring confidence. The Bank Directors had been at first opposed to the advancing of money upon goods, and every day's coneideratlon convinced them the more that it would not be ad •visable for them to undertake such a measure. Ile trusted that the Government would FCC the necessity of taking; the other course, and he would only add, that a day ought not to be lost in coming to some determination.. Mr. MIGHT said that he thought proper to state his opi. •entio upon the question, because the distress was not confined to London, but extended to all the provinces. The question was, whether they should adopt a tried and successful expedient, or one which was now heard of for the fi rst time, and which no commercial man had the least confidence. `i he Hon. Member referred to the report of the Comnumioners of 1793, and showed the good 'effect of the measure they had administered to the .country. He contended that the recent speculations had been I encouraged fay the measures of Government, and that the die tress was greatly increased by the one they bad just determined' lApon.' It was stead that they must proceed upon principle, and therefore that the proposition of time lion. Member for London mum not be acceded to ; but he maintained that the interfer ence of the Government with the Bank Wa4 a , direct infringe ment of the doctrine of principle, and that upon the qurstion of expediency there could be no doubt ot' the propriety of issuing Exchequer Bills; Mr. ii. SC el N ER said, that he did not coincide with the determination which his Right lion. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer had expressed. lie agreed with him entirely at th a t time distress proceeded from the wild spirit of specula tion which had gone Mato!. But these speculators were all swept elf the scene, and now the distress extended itself to persons of another description, and no one could say where it would stop it' the Government did not interpose.—(Hear 1) Sir J. .111ARJORI1lANKS (as we understood) stated, that the distress extended to Scotland, and was as severe] felt in Glasgow as in ally other part of time country. In con firmation -of this be could state, that a deputation was about to be sent from that city to the Government, and he sincerely hoped that :their prayer would be listened to. He begged to add his en treaty dint his Majesty's Ministers would adopt the measure which had before proved of such great aud instantaneous utility. Something must be done, and he used the word must in the strangest possible sense—or the country would be thrown into • a state of which no one could foresee the consequences. Mr. MANNINO addressed the House in so low a tone of 'voice, that we were only able to catch detached parts of his ebservations. lie gave preference to time issuing of Exchequer I Bills on the part of the Government, and said that in 1793 • when the House thought fit to exert 'teethe and to conic to the adoption of that measure, the distress subsided instantaneously and there was an immediate restoration of confidence. Out of the five millions voted by the liotime only 1,200,000/. were actually mottled, .and 1,30000/. for which negociations l had commenced, and not claimed be t emse the parties were • relieved by the return of confidence which enabled them to truneuet their affairs in the regular way of boldness. When he heard it said by the Government that the present din. trees of the mercantile interest was caused by their specu lation iii the joint mock companies, he begged leave to differ froth them. The distress had originated in a variety of .causes, ov er y which the merchants had no controul, and for some of which the Government alone were reeponsible.— When they resorted to time measure for what lie then consi dered to be the too early reduction of the interest on Exche-1 -quer Bills they did it irreet injury to the value of public secu. titles in this country. Then rime the foreign loans, and the -eagerness with which people sought after them. And what -wee the cause of that desire to invest property in foreign stuck ? The reduction of our own Five per Cents,, and of' the interest upon Vxchequer Bine. The produce of our own public esecurities wm to cut down that people naturally went to other sources, whet° they coma' obtain item or eight per cent. for their money. These were the Measurell Which led, step by step, to the crisis which lied now arrived. ‘Vhen be stated that the reduction of the interest upon 'Exchequer Bills, and upon the public sectleitiet, drove capital ant of time country, by means of Amigo loans, be was aware thee much of it came back again in the shape of produce, and eventually increuseekthe wealth and f --commerce of the cowry. But there was an interval in which such en abstraction of capital must be felt, and the country had now arrived at aperied of distiess which had continued for three months, and which wee such asas'an individual could remember , ever to have existed before ; and this, too, after time Bunk ' re c tor s , to his great eatiefection, had exerted themselves so as to receive the admiration of the country. if they bad acted other wise, indeed, they would have richly deserved its most decided .condemnation. He thought the Government wee equally bound to Make every exertion in their power to atop the progress of this ruin. lie, a*a Merchant, tusked them as a matter of favour and grace, to take the three days now betbre them calmly to confer, and to consider. whether they would persevere in that course which they had NO warmly laid down, or listen to the prayerm of the great body whose interests were so completely at stake, and adnpt a measure in which' all parties placed their confidence and hope. Mr. Secretary CANNING so far agreed with the lion. Gentlemen who had just eat down, that as the question would on a future day be placed in a state leading to n practical ex pression of the opinion of the House, it was riot desirable to prolong discussion upon the present occasion ; und• the more especially us another subject stood for their consideration d i nt night, which heti been brought into connection with this some- What irregularly, and which he thought ought to be kept entire divided from it. He could not, however, sit down without „noticing the speech of th© Ilene Bank Director who had thought lit to Resume a tone of admonition in &Warming the Govern. merit, and without stating the principles and the views upon which they 110(1 taken the course lip loudly complained of by .SlllllO lion. Gent. And first, he thought it but fair to throw out of their deliberations that sort of crimination and recrimi. 'talon as to this or that party being justly sensible of the dis tresses of the country, of which too much had been heard.— lie thought it was not a fair course of argument, unless those who used it were prepared to say that every man was bound to adopt any measure that might be proposed on the subject, or it' he refused it, they should therefore Kay, that he was inseh silnle the distress which unhappily premed upon so large a dem of the community. nit himself and for his colleagues, lie utterly disdainiel to repel such an imputation. No man, he believed, could be ineensible to such calamities. But for those, whose every day and night brought fresh anxiety and care, arising from the responsibility they took, in addition to their nymputhiee as men—if they could be without is deep sense of' the su ff 'erings of the armory, they would be unfit not only fur the situations *hick they held, but to sit amongst those by whom they were thou surrounded. Ile admitted to the lion. Gentleman that the gate of the country was alarming ; but the question was whether the measure proposed was tit to be adopted at once, nand without a (hie consideration of' the vast responsibility which it must throw upon the Government. Their case was not like that of time lion. Member himself, who upon another question had found a general concurrence of opinions tigainet inm, but still sat down with his mind unchanged, cads. tied that lie had done his duty, and that no further exertion would be availuble. This might do well for the lion. Gent., but the conduct of the Government under similar eiremnsuinces must be very different in the result. It was tit for an individual Member of Parliament to yield to the influence of' opinion. But the Ministers of the Crown were bound' to act upon the conviction of their own minds, as to what they believed best calculated to promote the interests or the country. How, then, could they accede to a measure a the necessity for which they were not convinced; they, who as soon as they lied adopted it would have to light its battle aguinet the opposition which, give him laity(' to my,, would The up against it as boon at it was knoWn to he under their protection ? Why, then, it was for them to take the - course which, winding to their honest conviction watt the right otte audio refuse their support to mcmi surea of the expediency of which they were not convinced. If the Howie concurred in an opiiiion favourable to' such mea sures, it was for the hone,' to take thein out of their hand' and place them in °there who (lid not entertains the same objections. Tne Government, then, were prepared to say that they did not think the mealtire now proposed it fit our to be applied to the ex isting atate of shingle They pointed out another course which was alreadv open by law, end which appeared to them equal to -the want; a the me. The Hon. Bank Director bad said that the power of the Bank to advance money upon merchandize was a doubtful or at beet a permieeive power. Now he thought that from the earliest incorporation of the Bank nothing could be more exprem then time power which they po ss essed in this re. epect. In the Aceof Vt'illiam and Mary was the following clause :—" Provided ulwaye that nothing herein contained shall in any way be construed to hinder the eatdCorporation from deal ing in Bilk of Exchange, bullion, silver, or from time buying and selling of merchandize really and bo»a fide 'deposited ta their hands." Now to the proposition of Minieters the flank Directors replied that they would not accede. Very well—if so—slat pro ratione voluntas. The Govermnent had fairly considered the sub. . e ject in ell its bearinge, and it would be inconsistent with their duty not to atlind it every consideration in their power. But throughout the whole of the argument, it had been assumed that the matter desired was in the course of a series of press. 'Whether tight or dents. Such, however, was not the ft. wrong, the measure would be a comp letely new on e. Of a ll ga l e* which had been cited es analogous, the on y one at all copaide of application in the present instance wee that of 1793, and even that was widely different in its circumstances; all the rest were resorted to in time of war (which in part affected the case of 1793), and under the reign of the Bank restriction.— Whatever might have been the priMary cause of the distress in 1793, war was at least a partial cause Mr. Pitt's budget of that year was really most extraordinary. The disturbances then arose from public events, such as cannot now exishin a season of profound tranquillity. This was the distinction be tween the cases. He did not, however, therefore say that the subject ought not to be considered. On the contrary, it had been considered with all attention, and he only objected to the precedent of 1793. They should do something, as a remedial measure ; but then something different froth that which they were called upon to do. If they—he meant both the Parliament and the Government-should now give way, a precedent would be established, on which it wouldbe necessary to act tinder similar circumstances at any ihture time of peace. By declining to, assent to the proposed plan, they- did not preclude relief. For the preferable means of relief to which they pointed, a power existed in the Bank, and there wus a bye-law in time Act framed for carrying that power into execution. It was said indeed that merchants would not go to the Bank. To do so or not was of course optional who them. It' such were the voloutas, it was beyond contruid. ' But how did the inciter stand? Hitherto the Bank discounted Bills, which were the visible sign of property. Now that that visible sign no longer etieted, there wise a chasm between the advancing While money, - and the property on which it •was advanced. The money now was to be lent directly upon the merchandise itself; and why, he would ask, should there be such a shyness in submitting hills of parcels, which would only be a substantial foundation for the issue of money. Great facility was now afforded for such a mode of transacting business. Heretthine goods were scattered in various parts over the whole face of the city ; but at present, in nine cases out of ten, they were all under lock and key in the King's Stores, and ready for immediate inspection. As - to the Bank, the Government only expressed an opinion, and he had done so. An Hon. Gentleman,who was one of the Bank Directors, had stated, that during ie season of distress in November, the Ministers were out of town.- I itecouldits sure the lion. Member, who, by time way, was not in town him. self' at • the time—(a laugh)—that he (Mr. Canning) and hie Right lion. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, .were both in town throughout the whole of that crisis, labouring under intense anxiety for the mitigation of the evil. lie would appeal for confirmation of' the statement to those Bank Direc tors who remained in town, and. were not in the-country with time Hon: Gentleman.--(A laugh.)—He also appealed to them to say, whether there was any disposition manifested, on the part of Government, not to render the acknowledgments due to the conduct of the Bank throughout the criels.—(llear 1) Mr. PEARSE said a few words in explanation. The think, he observed, merely expressed an opinion. Mr. ROBERTSON lamented that, under existing circum stances, the voice of the people could, not be heard by his Ma jesty. It was impossible for the King to change his present servants, as there were no others whom he could . pat in their place. The country was decidedly in opposition to the present measures, end yet Ministers would resign, if .they were not carried. What choice then wits left the House ? By resisting, the measures of Ministers in what an awkward situation would they place the Sovereign. hierman BRIDGES concurred in the sentiments of his lion. Colleague (Mr. T. Nilson), As to the distinctios which had been drawn by the Right lion. Secretary, between the dis. tresses of 1793, and those of the present period, he would say that, however their causes mit differ, their effects were so perfectly similar that a hundred merchants that day assembled, had asserted the analogy. In 1811, when time distress of the country arose from a deficiency of exports, Government receiv. ed with joy a proposal which alferded means for their encrease. Mr. CURTEIS said that in 1821, a Noble Marquis, who was a Member of Government, declared that a difference about the issuing of Exchequer Bills did not exist among Ministers. In the present instance Ministers followed the advice of those who were not the friends of their usual measures. The Petition was then read front the Merchants of' London, complaining of commerciel distress, , and praying the House to take the same into their serious consideration.--Ordered to be printed. Mr. T. WILSON gave notice, that on Tuesday he would move for the appointment of a Select Committee to take into consideration time present state of commercial distices. , • • . SILK TRADE. Mr. ELLICE presented two Petitions —one from Coventry. anti the other from time Silk-dyers of Spindlielde—against the importution of Foreign SilkeheuOrdered to be printed. Air. 1; MACE, wi s hi ng t o go i mme di a t e ly into the subject of the petitions, hoped that nrecedeuce would. be conceded to him by AI r. Hume, whose motion stood for that night in the paper. After some conversation, in which Mr. We'rew bore is part, Mr. II U ALE acceded to the request, declaring 'that he would take time first opportunity of bringing the subject of his motion before the House. Mr. EI,LICE then addressed the ;douse. It was not neces. nary for him, he observed, to enter into a detail of the - deep dis. trees, which had pervaded the lower classes. Alt whdthad their eyes about them must be aware of the wretchedness which had spread itself, to en unprecedented extent, among those whose cause he advocated. Ile only regretted his own inability to do joetice to the duty which he luidundertakerh In principle he was not opposed to the Chancellor oldie Exchequer; but there were exceptions which, as he supposed, practical Statesmen were bound to admit in a course of measures which were de signed for the public good. Ile felt that it was necessary t o conciliate - Ministers to the line of conduct which he would urge that he might not appear to have committed a departure teom principles of which he was still a supporter. At the period of the peace Ministers had seen our. trade exposed to the competition of foreign nations, and still it was held that it had so grown up and thriven that it was in a state to defy any competition whatever, and,,would,be lace to prosper, notwithstanding foreign rivalry. On the promises! principles of Minister* he - became a Member of thee Committee on Trade, in the hope of seeing what could be done to serve time interests of commerce. Now uchnitting himself on the side of Ministers, be yet thought, that in their measures, •they bad not begun at the right end. They ought to have commenced with the state of time currency, and to have put it on such a footing, that the labourer of this. country might stand in equal circumstances with those of his degree in other countries. Taxation should have been reduced for the relief of the industrious classes, so as to shift time burthen upon the more opulent orders of the community, who would be better able to bear it. lied :Ministers acted so, they might have pro. ceedett with less. difficulty to the opening of trade—to relieving it from its restrictions, and finally to the repeal of the Corn Laws. It was true many persoha of grave authority diffhred • from hits in the opinion which. ho had rolvenced—they con. ceived it right and expedient to resort at once to original prin. chile& It was, however,, a question which he would - not now Mecums with them. lie would leave their opinions for time pre. sent :undisputed ; but he was bound injustice to himself to state what his views had been. To his thinking, Ministers ought to have acted otherwise than they did. Their first duty clearly was to have established a firm foundation of the currency ;; next they ought. to reduce the taxee and repeal time Corn Laws. Then indeed they might with perthct safety approach the yuestion of free trade. Had he been a •Al ember of Government and espon :tilde for Its acts, he would be cautions not to put tune foot for ward till he had ascertained how the other was to follow. He would not leave it in the )lower of any one • elates- in society to make a charge of partial legislation upon bins, while h e wou ld not dare to press his measures upon other classes. The branch of trade to which he now celled the attention of time House was the subject of consideration for a Committee upstairs. When they looked to the Report, and The evidence othwhich, they went, at • would appear that they had acted with little caution, and upon insufficient inforinetion. If it could be shown that they had scarcely any information hut whet was derived from persons of little experience, who thought this country better prepared to meet Continental competition than it' eally was ; if it should Also be found that Government and the Committee in time other Hopes: had proceeded with too notch celerity, they were surely warranted in reviewing their ecte, anti arresting the evils to which those acts might probably lead. Much and valuable intiomation had since been reeeived, and thus much good hail followed from their measures, that, manufacturers had been. driven to discover the State of manufactures on the Continent. The result of their inquiries had been laid before the Chancellor of the Exelieg tier, and he would now tame it to ,the Votive, as be hoped, with better thrum. Oldie, Silk Trade there were f our branches, that of the omi-wester, the 4ye r , the broad trade, antl. the narrow trade. Each of these divisions had its relative come plaint as to the measure which affected them. The throWstem made :hi commode int with reference to the mate of their machinery, nor did they look to the necessity of any improvement in a. In the epinion of Ministers their ease was entitled to protection, and riccordinaly a protecting duty is.: Od. in - the pound was laid upon silk in their favour. They now comphtined, that three months !since, when the trade was in distress, Misters, without any authority front time Legislature,. had reduced the duty on thrown silk by 2s. (hi. in the pound. One would not perhaps complain if time whole duty had been removed, in order to a fo reign comptaitioo ; but what right had Ministers to interfere with private property in the value of the duty. The throwsters also alleged,that such a quantity of human labour was employed in the course of their business, that it was absolutely necessary to enable them to compete with the cheap labour of time Con tinent. They wou ld ot h erw i se b e inevitably compelled to throw great numbers of their apprentices upon the parish for sunneet. These facts he only stated as they had been put to him. If true, they ought to have been offered to the considera tiou of the Howie by the Ch ance ll or o f t h e E xc h equer ; if ex aggerated, 110 one wou ld . b e more happy than himself to dis cover that the evil did not equa l the representation. Those i n the broad silk trade stated grounds of inquiry which if dis [ proved by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, his case was at an end. They alleged, that from - the expence of labour in dyeing, and the duty on thrown silk, they were under a dis advantage of from 45 to 50 per cent. In a competition with the Continent. Mr. Doxat had rated their inferiority at from 55 to 80 per cent. As to a continental competition they were not so alarmed. Their chief apprehensions were directed to the manufactures of the East Indies and China, which so small a protecting duty as 35 per cent. would never enable them to contend with. Indeed so overpowering must the latter competition be, that it would almost warrant him in re commending the exclusion of East. Indian and Chinese manufak tures altogether. Damask furnit ure s ilk i mported from thoM countries could be purchased at five shillin a yard, and onbe shilling and sixpence duty, which could met e npepteeeneed. here for double the price. By their Act of tits .lied hoped to improve and encourage an export trade; but it was plainly idle to hope for a sale in their own markets, while there. were markets abroad, at which foreign silks could not find a sale. Thus one great argument was completely removed. lie would ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether since the passing of the Act of 1824, he had heard of any exports in consequence? For his own'part, he had heard of none, and if such were the fact, it was clear there was no finding a way for our menu ram:tare:4 in India and France. They could now judge by facts on a subject of which they betnre judged by the words of two Americans, who estimated France at about 3.1 per cent. above Britain in manufectures. If the house granted him a ComMittee, he would chew that the Weavers were un fairly treated with regard to the duty which was suffered to remain on the articles employed in their manufacture. Of those articles there was a long catalogue. Barille was subject to a severe•duty at the suggestion of a Scotch proprietor, who was interested in the production of the article, and ap. preheneive of the cheapening effect of a foreign competition.— Soap of this country was liable to a duty of about 211 s. ; foreign soap to a duty of 41. 10s., Now a free trade ought to be general in its nature, and not confined to particular articles, leaving others subject to restriction. The silk dy ers had only to complain in common with the members of the other branches, of the general dearness of articles, particularly those em ployed in dyeing. But on the score of machinery, and of skill in execution, they felt themselves so far from being infe rior to foreigners, that they were able to instruct the few foreign workmen who had been introduced amongst them. He most earnestly invited the attention of the House to the conclud ing paragraph of the petition. The petitioners there stated, that they were not alarmed at foreign competition, pro. vided that they were put onan equal footing with their com petitors in the prices of articles and provisions. lie now came to the case of the narrow or riband weavers. They exclusively complained of the inferiority of their machinerye 1n Switzer land one ounce of silk could be procured for 30., which here would cost Is. This, he thought, was to be understood as ape plying to the fancy riband alone. As to machinery there were in Coventry 7,500 looms belonging to poor labourers—not manufecturers—and those on the worst possible construction. The improved loom of France would manufacture just five times as much as any one of them, and therefore there could he no tome of any competition a f ter the sth of July next.— It would then be proper to afford the poor weavers time for improving the structure of their machinery, and that would be his object in the Committee. It wax indeed main. tained on the other side, that France would not be able to sup. ply our demands; but the fact was, there were 10,000 looms in Switzerland, and 3,000 of them would be sufficient to supply us. There were 12,000 looms in Lyons, and 3,000 of them would be adequate to the same purpose. There were other improvements in machinery applicable to the manufacture or velvet and binding in Germany, which would enable a German to execute 48 times as much work tis mm Englishman. To the ar. gurney) t which might be raised on th e great extent o f our cap i ta l , he would reply, that there was more capital embarked in the trade in Switzerland than in all England, and there were no bills there. He would call the attention of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the practice of granting patents to persons who were not the inventors of machinery, but who, having their eyes about them, brought models from the Conti ne nt t o thi s country, and, by the authority of a patent, prevented others from adopting similar improvements. Knell a practice were consistent with law, it was time to look to the state of the law on the subject. Such was the state of the manufacturers; but what was the state of,the operatives, the most important deem, of all ? Two thirds of them were out of employment, and the remaining third would shortly be in a similar situation, if mea sures wefe not speedily taken to prevent such a calamity. Let the state of prices before 1797 be compared with the present, and It would be found that house rent was then at about 2/. Ills. to the labourer, which was now raised to N. or 61. ; butchers' meat 33. rld., now 7s. Otl.; bread 30., now 7d. Ile woull ask the House, would they support the most vicious of all systems, munelya-to feed, the poor half' by their own labour and half by the poor rates ? This was it part of the question which inn. mately concerned the landed Interests of the kingdeiata The de. cision of mime House in 1824 was founded on the evidence of Mt. Utile, of two foreigners, mind of some Manchester 31anu. facturere, Ile would ask, it' th e s e same p erso ns,were now to come before then), and state at their bar that their in. quiritea . on the subject s inc e h a d convinced them that time infofination which they before supplied was un founded in fact, and that they had changed their opiniols, could they in 'such a case refuse the appointment of a Committee ' for the purpose of reviewing and correcting their former decision. Ile was convinced the system of uvertrading was owing to time etas of Government itself, which, as it raised wager propor. tionably, led the poorer working classes into a state, not perhaps of luxurious indulgence, but certainly of greater expence and comparatively greater comfort, made the transition from ample employment to scarcity of employment more deeply and de deplorably telt by these manufacturers, who were now, by time pressure of the times, thrown out of employment, With all this feeling on his part. he wished not to be misunderstood as it' underrating the value of a fixed principle. In fact he had all along been favourable to the abolition . of an 'Moe nopolies. Tide, 'however, was not now attempted to be generally acted upon, but it appeared the bolt was pe culiarly levelled at time Silk Weavers sod the Silk Trade.-... And the House would not dim its duty towards the poor Manu facturers of Macclesfield, and other towns who were now pledg. ing their very wearing apparel to support themselves, unless some relief was held out to them by the House, untWithetand. ing the resolution of his Majestyns Ministers. At least there should be given some time to the trade to make such represen had represented to him it was in ta t theirlon l s m o w n ei th t e o subject, giveto mat its they mi ttee, it' the House should acqui esce in the propriety of the *notion which he should now toils. mit. lie then moved " That a Select Committee be appointed to take i»to its consideration the various representatione made in the petitions of the Silk Weavers and Illanufacturers, and report their opinions thereupon to time House." Mr. JOHN %VI AMS seconded the motion, The mea sure in question, he observed, was about to be carried into operation t;t . a moment when those whom it affected were in a state of time greatest possible distress. Not only were the silk manufactarers in a state of distress, but every other depart.l ment of national industry was similarly situated ; so that if the effect of the, proposed experiment should be to demaroy that branch of trade altogether, there would be none other. for' time outcast labourer to fly to for employment. To 'convince the Right lion. Gentleman of the inefficacy Of his plan, he would the anc i en t pop u l a tio n o f Alaccleefield,in l7BToi,meaßmimgmhmt enter into a few details. Th e H ouse m i ght not be aware that no more than 4,oUo—in 1820 it was 23,000. amounted to Gentleman seemed to think the population h a d grown too ra pithy; but he momproeed he did not therefore propose that a famine should be brought in to lower it and keep the peace. The employment in Illaa averaged no fewer than 20,000 hands ; and it appeared that there were now thrown out of employ ment, by this measure, not less Oman 0,731, and this is the space of half a year. To give an idea of the distress he would only state, dust there were 1,600 families now tupported by voluntary contributions, upon potatoes and oatmeal. . The fund out of which this came was DOW nearly exhausted, and in a very few week 4 would certainly come to an end. Ther e was no work expected, and no fund. There had been seventh orders for removal of those who were becoming burdensome upon t h a p ar i s h, so th at th e land ia a c l e rr upolyon it. verburtt i t n e g ti s , was to have a still greater w e ight were bourly . getting wore i e lop ,a e olntf. thusreiieiv.....o sern hopes ele tsooorfpecionpil)eloyo.f this place snuated e e-no ment—funds gone —nothing but poor-lewd, and the land, which had enough to hear already. At Maeclestiel. ,l , in the spring of Ma, the broad, s ilk manu f ac turers had 10,838.b00m s in work. In January last they had only 4;111. At Bethnal green even, there were not less than 1,000 now obtaining pariah relief, from a perfect incompetency to maintain them selves, and the absence of all hope of employment. He was not authorieed to say that time silk 'manufacturers demanded of Ili , Majesty's Ministers. that they should not interfere.— On the contrary, they only required that the countervailing { benefit of so much demon s tr a bl e e vil should be shown. Th e petitioners demanded that they should not be carried forward to certain men in quest of some theoretical good contemplated by time Right Honourable Gentleman. There were two facts which he was instructed to state, the petitioners had it in their o power t , rvertibl i e most clearly to prove, in the most direct and These were, that at this period in the habit of always taking of' the year the m ercers were stock, and that at the present moment their stocks were extremely b e l ow pee. Yet there was no demand for the goods of the manufacture r , and there was no ot h er way o f account. Ina for this, th an b y supposin that the tradesmen were wait ing for the month of July, when French goods would bead,' nutted and sold much below the price of British manufacture, lie hoped the Britialeillinister was not so enamoured of his the. ory, a.; that no facts could drive him from it. if the dem an d fur silk goods revived, it would be for the productions of ano ther country, not of thi s . The silk throwster's busin ess was manual l a b our; and t h e pr i ce , th ere f ore, of this article must depend i n a great measure upon the price of pro. ! visions. Now, he bad it from peril mns sent abroad for the ex press purpose, that at Lyons bread was at three sons per lb., when in England it was twopence halfpenny, being very nearly double: The estimate made by the same individual was, that the Lyonese worked 44i per cent. cheaper than the English manufacturer ; and at Zurich CO per cent. If the Right Hon. Gent. rejected the motion of his lion. Friend, he would be exercising the ungracious task of shutting the doors, instead of opening them wide to the distressesuf the people ; and thus taking the lirmit lamentable resource f the unfor. unate, the privilege and consolation isfli 'g th omplaints rd. Ilftric that it would, not bestite ing of e House o rh itslihe i n the distrefsedaporLida , tle...popu tion of ttssik ~,,, tire countrysilint e 've them of th le.Aitima e means of sup port. In some departments of the trade there would be felt pe culiar distress. There were no less than 500,U00 persons en gaged an the winding and weaving departments, with a capital vested nothing short of 11,009,0007. These, he contended, con sisted of a population which most especially were entitled to the. favour and protection of Parliament. The tendency of the measure to which his Majesty's Government had been induced to lend its support, was directly that of encouraging foreign maimfactures at the expence of their own, and giving to the subjects of foreign powers the highest advantages an competing with those whom it was the peculiar duty of Parliament to pro text and foster. It was in vain to talk of duties. No duty could yield an effectual protection. The higher the duty was raised, the miter would be the facilities and inducements of the smugglers.—(Hear, hear! from the Ministerial Benches.) —Thus • were real and solid benefits sacrificed with out any of that reciprocity in our intercourse with other countries, which the too sanguine eXpectations of Minis ters had ,led them to expect. Now, he confessed himself so stupid, and so wedded to old prejudices, as to desire no change, lie then adverted to the spe e ch of the Chancellor of the Exchequer made In the flourishing period of 182.1, and no ticed the elated and oratorial tone in which that Right Hon. Gentleman spoke of the necessity which then existed, of cut ting the cord that bound down the commercial system. It was now to be remembered that the experiment of cutting that cord had, to a certain extent, been tried, and no recipro city had been - enjoyed nor was there any reason to expect it. Foreign countries were most willing to accept from us all they could get, but most unwilling to make the slightest re turn. Throughout there had been nothing more than a dis play of the knowledge of political economy, without any just application of its principles to existing circumstances. The responsibility of those measures, serious as it undoubtedly was, rested exclusively with the Ministers, notwithstanding that they received the sanction of Parliament, still With them the responsi bility did rest, however it reight be divided with the Parliament. For, of a measure of itself injurious, it wee no consolation to the dpublic, to hear that it had re ce i ve d th e sanc ti on o f t h e C ommons ouse of Parliament. Nothing was more dangerous than to become enamoured of a theory, and nothing' more mischievous than the pursuit of a general principal at the expence of a prac. tical good. As to those general principles, there existed not the slightest difference of opinion ; the whole turned upon their practical application to the complex circumstances of an old country. The measures to which lie opposed himself, were really as preposterous as setting a man bound in fetters to run a race against a man whose limbs were free; and all this to carry into practical effect wild systems and metaphysical theories. it was Burke, he said, who so eloquently described the cold-hearted and insensible metaphysician, whose malignity exceeded that of the devil himself—a man who disregarded every thing in the overweening attathinent to general prin. ciplos. One word more, a nd l ie s h ou ld h ave don e . With the Ministers, and with them alone, the responsibility of these great anetlangerous measures rested—(Hear, hear, hear ! from the Treasury liench)---and lie would call upon them to pause before they further aggravated distresses already raised to a high pitch. Mr. II USKISSON was d iiposed to acknowledge that although the Hon. Member for Coventry might feel It necessary to have adopted this evening a line of argument so contrary to his sen timent* in general, possibly under the influence of external. in terests, time arguments used even under that influence were not to be considered as destitute of interest or weight. With re spect to time speech of the seconder of the motion, it was pro. bably the sentiments which he had uttered this evening were to be traced no doubt to an Influence more recently contracted, and the Honourable and Learned Member, in uttering them might possibly have been actuated by an ambition to become in more respects than one the colleague of the Hon. Member for. Coventry.—(Cheers, and laughing.y—[le certainly had been astonished at the speech of the Hon. and Learned Member this evening. That Learned Gentleman had stated that he was not prepared to admit this, anti not prepared to admit that, in the same guarded way as it was customary in' Courts of Law with Advocates who were acting under instruction. He should leave that Hon. Gentleman to the enjoyment of all the taunts, sarcasms, and vituperation which he had, fin the first time to night, lavished on the principle of free trade, in a tone of un. usually vehement declamation, and contentedly permit hint to share the feelings which he professed, and the taunts which lie had thrown out against all the supporters of the doctrines of free trade, with those around him on the benches of Opposition, who had shared ! and ought still to share, in the merit of hay. ing introduced into legislation the new light of commercial re ciprocity and liberal principles of foreign trade. He was, he hoped, far from being indifferent to the pressure of the times, and more particularly to the representations of distress in this particular branch of our manufactures, end he thought that the charge of being an unfeeling the or i s t was levelled - at himself most unjustly. Mr. JOHN %VI LLIA 11S— I distinctly disavow having intended to charactetize the Right Hon. Member as devoid of feeling." Mr. II USK ISSON—" What then does the 110 h... and Learn ed Member mean by the imputation of the hard-heartedness and want of feeling peculiar to a man deaf to every suggestion but consistency and theoretical principle. I appeal to the House whether he must not have intended It to me personally —(Hear, hear I)—and then his introduction of the quotation from Burke, as to the malignity of a. demon, could only he in. tended to affix to me a stigma, the justice of which, however he may reconcile to his feeling, I trust the house will not.—(llcar and loud cheers.) —To that insinuation—that taunt, I profess mytielf perfectly indifferent, and shall contrnt myself with once for all repelling it with the scorn and contempt which so ground: less an imputation merits."—(Loud cheers.)—The lion. Mein. her then continued. With respect to the principles them ' selves, against which the Honourable Member for Coventry, of whom he did not, and the Honourable and Learned Mem- ber of whom he would complain, had launched his ar-n guments, and the latter his invective, he would remind tile ' House they were principles already, adopted by the House,l and had for these eighteen months been time law of the land.— For two or three years those principles of trade had prevailed in this House, which tended directly t o re li eve tra d e f r om re strictions, and and restrictions had, by the determination of the house, been decided to be on general principles injurious to trade and coin nitrce. The question was, would the House, by admitting this isppeel of a particular class of persons affected by the late regu lations, consent to tread back time steps it had taken towards establishing a liberal system of commerce for now some years, and open up the discussion of thc subject anew? For ifon this instance, there has been any impropriety or Woolley, then were they bound to retrace their steps, not only in this, but in all other instanc es w h ere parties in business were injured, and not only would it become necessary to re-enact those restrictive re gulations which it had repealed, but even to devise new and more.effective restrictions as yet unknown to the laws of the country. teraocns, , It would, in order to set time subject in its p ro p er light, become ac cessar y . to take a review of wh a t h a d b een t h e conduct of Parliament, since it had been enga ge d i n these corn. mereial regul a tion * . To appreciate the necessity of t h ese al he should take the liberty of referring the House to the statements contained in a Petition dated in May, 1820, also .a period of commercial difficulty. Those statements would be found not to contain the speculative opinions of theorists, the wild subtleties of metaphysicians, nor yet the suggestions of men malignant as tiensons, but the plain sensible sentiments of pioactical merchants as to what was time real policy of trade and'the true interest of the country. And who were the Peti tioners in this case ? The merchants of the city of London.— li (Ileneut a nl !)---'They whichioTn ii l e i Y k like therein ours cuss conducive to the wealth and prosperity of time country ; and i i ) v e a c s u lbenefitedpeculiar to t the soil importingand climatet ho o s those othercom modities countries, and in return exporting those of our own country more particularly our manufactures; that freedom of trade anti intercourse between nations was mutually beneficial to either country so in commercial intercourse, anti that the true prin. ciple of trade with foreigners.consisted in buying at the cheap. est, and selling at the dearest market ; that the encouragement of free trade in this way would open to -us fresh resources and new markets for consumption of articles of our menu fectures, instead of following the old system adopted by this and other countries of prohibiting through a mistaken but good intention the produce and manufactures of other countries; that the latter principle begat jealousy and hos tility between nations though previously in amicable inter. course; that the prejudice on which the restrictive system had been founded, was the fallacious principle that foreign importa tion to any great extent would and must diminish the consump. t iron o w weary y their home ti f patienceo ur own y goin g through manufactures.hgiroeltirned, e ri must s aa° tlr u r til e a l pt t ei e n s rbnegbewltilepalla slilnrpneiongsaecurentnateiadhlwldine:tedi6dloprlwidirao;teldgo-l -tailed statements of the petition.—(Cries of read, read !)—lle particularlya det h ie a l eeo d de i n tnne n g sl dy o abpnojeet, petition called tpatii acted Parliament. dl iwa t to itnoi i irce r ) ohn e :n e tt he d gtahe i d t enTle a p) rie l rmae l eelns t l e h yprn, r ee o ttpi t t l to state, that if restrictions such as those complained of were foreign communication, that the system-of free trade was more moment, of distress and commercial embarrassment, which had in effect been produced or occasioned by these restrictions on our trade, inasmuch as the merchants of other countries were soliciting, front their respective Governments, fresh restrictions on fo reign produce; and that these representations of foreign mer chants were evidently directed against this country, for the purpose of defending them from the importation of English goods, with which they could sot at all comps in con sequence of the great cap' s and soperiority machi nery in this country ; the lion finalta Ittencludink nth a prayer tleat the-Ijouse would tag the subj dbee into its t l g ~,„:„,) se rious consideratitith e and taissemeasu. fortfietheto rellee O 1 trade4romajtelpieriltiolterelitrictioni, (LondelVs.ne-If therlt the Honk HAT Med in the din reprehensible riMineradescrib ed by the Hon. Members on the opposite side of the House, they should remember that they had been induced to do so in fact by the countenance and solicitations of emisent.practieal merchants and men of business, who were not to be supposed as bit with the mania of metaphysical theory, but who had made the representation to that House, because, as they stated, they believed the removal of the old restrictions on foreign e t c hoa ni e tn i e ) r e c r e sa w ns ou w ld ha r se eli n e a v m e e o s u a r drooping ppeare d ad at thtrefaeo. - foot o f Andthewpho petition' - The first among them was a man of the highest character as a merchantnaw was f o r a y and,Mr. Samuel ea D rs irec w to i r m o h f a( t i he be ß e i n ink m o a f ny E y n e g a l rs and Thornton, late a Member of that House. There were others almost equally respectable as merchants, who also had been Governors or Directors - of the Bank of England. or who might be fairly taken as representing a great portion of the trade of the City of London. He did allude to these highly respected name' ago Governor, . as an apology for the conduct of his NtaieSty's Ministers.although on their avowed sentiments he felt he might have rested his vin dication of Administration from having adopted hastily theore tical principles calculated to oppress and ruin our commeree.-- The Right Hon. Gentleman having stated the difficulties under which commerce laboured on a former occasion, expressO a hope that they might not find among the difficulties of the pm sent day a dcenion, namely political agitation, which they had before encountered. The' unfortunate persons to whom he alluded would recollect how much their sufihrings were increased by agitators, who were leading them to their own destruction.-- The first argument urged in that House was that improvement in trade was desirable : the Honourable Member tirsttold the House that freedom of trade was the element of prosperity, . and then proceeded to tax his Right Honourable Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as well as all the Members of his Majesty's Government with apathy. They were: charged with sitting down, and not doing that which the interest of the country required. A favourable topic was repeatedly urged.-.- It was said two countries never could be improved whilst their commerce was alike. Tne inference to be drawn from that lino of reasoning, might induce this country to shut up her trade within the Island, and prohibit other countries from sending us any goods. At the same time we were to send as much as we thought proper. But he should consider this, to say th e least,of it, a most inconvenient system of commerce. To Prt mote the prosperity of the country, it was necessary, nee"' ing to the Honourable Gentlemen's view, to keep up the eY; 4ent of prohibition—the system of Spain, which admitted notilinri but smuggling. An lion. Gentleman, the greatest pract i c al man in the country, had long since discarded that sptenle I nC- Hon. Member for Taunton had pressed for emohibitions as the means of specific relief under the petition. He had said, how ever, on a former occasion, what can be so absurd to have Outi,e, on foreign commodities. On the question of taking ati:, the duties on foreign wool, let British wool be fairly exportene an d' the prohibition on foreign wool shall be removed. TheN anu lecturers then said, almost to a man, take off the (nay on foreign wool, but if you take it off British wool for expore tatlon the trade will be ruined. Government at lest age; ceeded in taking off the duty on Foreign and British wool; gnu' instead of the trade being ruined, they exported the first Y,e k ir 100,0001bs. of British wool. Th e y a l so im ported 40,000,0w e w?" of foreign wool. That was th e effect of taking off thepronlh" Lion. The next measure which the Hon. Member for Tannw it Promoted, was a revision of the Revenue Laws. The on . Member stated that the Customs' L aws w ere so unintelli lge that no man knew how to carry on hi s b us i n ess, and that ita the duty of Government to consolidate those laws. The tile l : was a difficult one—but the Government did not shrink from it. The Government never would have succeeded, but for the el; sistance of a most active Gentleman in the Customs, whollen proceeded with the greatest advantage to the country. Whe n they (bend nOO Statutes put into the little volume (producing a small book) which he held in his hand, containing_ all the hof which MO necessary to carry on the business, thellouse would admit that great improvements had been made in the Laws r e * gulating Commerce. The next recomm en d at i on w as to intbst:, tute protecting dudes in all cases for prohibitions. Ile begg ed leave to read an extract from the speech made on the subject bI, his Hon. Friend. Another desirableobject of his lion. Pico" flaarlenen4coottraamole.st Nothing`. could would be to do away prohibitions totally, where protection for particular MerehandixeS was necessary to be in the shape °` h to lb s i m tion ug a gl i i n n i g a i r e t t h l e th e e us t n ev is en i u tad e. protectingeduties,and.not prohibition. He was convinced Pro: could be more absurd than to prevent the introduction el articles of consumption. He (Mr. Huskisson) would ask to Hon. Friend whether he had not silk in v i ew w h en h e a li n e''' to articles of home consumption. He found his Hon. Friend in 1817 (certainly a period of difficulty and distress in the !n''' . nufacture of silk).stanng that British manufact urers were rula' l ,-, by: prohibitions; so that these silk manuf acturers , w ho were ''' flourish in 1817 under the removal of prohibitions Were "I' the prohibitions taken off, to be rein e d ; 'rite Right'lloiue'n. Gentleman called the attention of th e H ouse to an o t her d tion of the utmost importance —he meant the Currency al e ': don. In 1817 he found the average importation of silk, via, 2,800,000 pounds. There was an overtriuling in 1818, an d I „"'" importation of silk increinted 100 per cent. Tallow cat ta f a ' and Other articles were increased in the same proporatint, that overtrading there naturally occurred a depression offilZ In 1817, since the Report of the Bank Committee of Ifl e v an e . ' p l . Bank possessed a greater stock of gold than at an' lull' period. The Exchequer was favourable, but it Bijou atter altered, and gold disappeared . . In 1818, the distress be_eecetne such that Government were solicited to issue Exchequer 10 11 '; After this digression, the Right Hon. Gentleman came to the next point to which. his Honourable Friend called the attention of the Mouse, namely, the Navigation Laws of the wing* dom. What did the Honourable Member propose ? Whys to repeal the Navigation La ws a l toget h er , The G overn ' ment did not go to that extent, but referred the question 0 o a Committee. The evid ence o ff ered on the su bj ect , led W a changeof the Navigati on L aws, b ut the Comm i ttee did not in their report to th e wild length of his Hon. Friend's t hear t The sixth reconamendation to the House was to remove & i; strictive system with . respect to the trade with France. 1 ~e . House followed the recommen d ation. They had i n d uce d fo n ". to remove the difficulties thrown in the way of British eorih, merce. France felt, and adopted the principles of free traa: e but could not surmount all the difficulties, It was said the ra-e gulation with respect to goods coming from Asia to France wi t the effect of an arrangement between the two Governmena n our was no such thing. It was the subject of a cominunicadon ~ the Chambers. All that was stipulated in the Conventi' ll w he this :--If France allowed goods to come from those part: of t he world to her ports they were to be brought in French shy , . e l is ' t England they were equ%lly to come in British ships. II t i he arrangement they had al; they could desire. What remained to at done with respect to commerce between the two countries Mfg ° beleft to the Governer:eat and France, but the Right Hoe. Gen. t denizen appealed t o t h e H ouse w h et h er a n attempt on the P a " of his Majesty's Government to retrace their steps was the tote war. to meet any e vil s w hi ch m i g h t ar i s e i n the commercial ' course between the two nations. His lion. Friend - rewire; mended that they should enlarge the measures which regulataf the trade of India. They bad been incessantly engaged wit h_ the East India Company endeavouring to extend the trade ''' t . India. If Government had not gone far enough it was not the . fault. They respected vested nehts. 'These were the prinv* pal points brought by the Hon. Acernber under the considerat i on of the House. 'l7he Government had attended to all those pow ` nt yet the II on. :uite:Arnett Gentleman imputed to the Gove rnrne o apathy and indifference. The end of all the recommendatio_. given at the debate alluded to, was admonition, and a hope at tended pressed that Gov eminent would attend to the petition. It was i', • tended to. A Noble Marquis who had not changed like the gre w ' hopper on the top of the Royal Exchange, moved for a Connn' le to consider the state of the silk trade. That Committee Ma t e. la report and stated that protecting duties ought to be subsn,tis. tuted the prohibitions. The evidence of foreign nieee ha he who came to purchase silk goods, stated that they ha d bong ee silk articles in Franc e an d in Evglatel, and that the diet' on- In price did not excee d twenty * per cent. In 1823, en t h e ourable :timber same with a petition from the Mosters in silk trade against the law winch gave the workmen A more portueity of raising their wages against the mewls. y unjust law could not exist, and it was repealed. The to , men had the greatest attachment to that law. They wished to have it in force more th an any other. When they called 1 1 - 0 him (fir. Iluskieson), they had been left to their choice , . ej. le a. to have the Spitaltields Act re-enacted, or the ar obibltiC ~„„ They would have taken the Spitalfields Act, and ga b 's thrown the prohibitions to the wind. In 1824, his Righ t d tent Friend finding that the general state of prosperity enable .... to give up the silk duties, came down and mado that proll e tion. His Hon. Friend opposed the measure in detail. an d. was told over and over again, that this trade would cease ; aP vote when he said he would give them two years, the answer wits the trade may linger two years and not longer. Mond te. month it will decline. By the. information received uPe n ...ei • The Rlg'' . subject; all was misrepresentation and despondency. on Hon. Gentleman confessed that had been rather obdurate pi. the representations made to him, because he could not enn' te those statements well founded. One person he was inclin ed 10 hear with serious attention, Lie said hC would hear 1 1 0 51.